Tim Cramsey has a simple answer for what’s wrong with the Arkansas offense.
Hold on to the football.
That was the big takeaway Tuesday when the Razorbacks offensive coordinator met with reporters ahead of Saturday’s trip to Auburn. There were times he sounded fed up, and he has every right to be. He just didn’t bring a new fix with him.
“At some point, it comes down to the guy who has the ball in his hands, holding on to that dang thing,” Cramsey said.
He’s right. It’s also the kind of advice you could get from any junior high coach in Northwest Arkansas for free.
The Hogs gave it away four times against Missouri. Add seven drops and two touchdowns erased by penalties, and you’ve got a pretty reliable recipe for losing an SEC game.
“Four turnovers, seven drops, two touchdowns called back because of penalties,” Cramsey said. “Like you can’t do that.”
Yeah, well, no kidding. At this point, though, I’m not real sure there’s much he can do about it now except hope. It sounded like that’s basically what he’s doing at times this year, too.
Same drills and same message
Cramsey said the staff preaches ball security every day.
Players catch tennis balls while somebody punches at the football. The Friday night script meeting shows clips of opponents knocking the ball loose and picking off passes.
The players have heard the message plenty. It just keeps getting lost somewhere between the practice field and kickoff.
“It needs to be as much as a conscious effort as a physical one,” Cramsey said.
When asked why none of it has carried over to Saturdays, Cramsey called it the frustrating side of the job. His answer was to keep doing what they’ve been doing, which is a bold plan for something that hasn’t worked yet.
“You got to stay the course with coaching the heck out of it,” he said. “You got to stay the course learning from it. Okay, but it has to stop.”
To be fair, the offense had looked better. Cramsey called Missouri a “huge, huge step back” after a sharper showing against Vanderbilt.
That’s been a frustrating pattern with this team. Right when it looks like it’s figured something out, it hands the ball to the other team. Then even some of the coaches look confused.
Quarterback and the line both slipped
KJ Jackson had a hand in the mess, too. Considering he handles the ball almost every time he’s in the game he has plenty of chances.
The staff started calling QB draws for him, and they were working. Then he tried a spin move instead of diving forward for the extra yards, and the ball hit the turf. Cramsey didn’t sound like a big fan of the choreography.
“There’s no need for him to pull a spin move in that situation,” he said.
The interception came on a tipped ball. Cramsey still put it on Jackson, saying the receiver was covered and the right move was to go to the next read.
“There’s never a good time to force it,” he said.
The offensive line didn’t escape blame either. Cramsey wants everyone up front to agree on the call and who they’re blocking before they start worrying about winning one-on-one battles.
“The number one thing is communication,” he said.
You’d figure that part would be settled by November, but here we are.
Nobody’s throwing a parade
Chris Marshall’s injury hasn’t helped any of this.
The Razorbacks’ top target has missed most of the last two games. Cramsey hinted that Missouri blitzed more than expected because Marshall wasn’t out there, so apparently opponents noticed his absence too.
Arkansas did find a rhythm after halftime, putting together a 21-play drive and a 14-play drive.
That’s nice. Long drives are a lot more fun when you haven’t already spotted the other team extra possessions in the first half.
To his credit, Cramsey isn’t strutting around about the wins this season. He shouldn’t be. Beating the teams you’re supposed to beat is the job, not a résumé builder, and the Hogs haven’t done much against anybody tougher to make people forget the rough stretches.
Whether Marshall can play Saturday or later this season still isn’t clear. If he can’t, Arkansas will keep leaning on Antonio Jordan.
Antonio Jordan grabs his chance
Jordan has been one of the few things going right lately.
Cramsey said Jordan looks more confident in practice now and knows where to go without checking with somebody first.
“I don’t care how long you coach, how good a coach thinks you are, you can’t coach experience,” Cramsey said.
Jordan and Marshall play the same spot. When both are healthy, Marshall will slide to the slot or the Z receiver so Jordan can stay at his natural position.
“Chris would be the moving piece,” Cramsey said.
Jordan’s still young, and it showed against Missouri. He had an early drop and put the ball on the ground late, which Cramsey called unacceptable. He fit right in, in other words.
Even so, Cramsey said Jordan’s made plays most of the time the ball has come his way over the last two weeks.
Auburn will show a little of everything
DJ Durkin’s Auburn defense mixes three-down and four-down fronts and will roll out a three-high safety look.
“There’s not a front they don’t play. There’s not a coverage they don’t play,” Cramsey said.
That’s not great news for an offensive line still working on communication.
The Razorbacks have a staffer named Jake who worked for Durkin last year. It cuts both ways, though. Auburn has a defensive staffer who spent four years with Cramsey at Memphis.
Cramsey said the key is preparing for what shows up on film and not chasing ghosts. He likes the run game’s chances, too, since a defense that moves around that much leaves gaps for backs who hit their landmarks.
You can watch Cramsey’s full Tuesday press conference in the video above.
Kickoff is Saturday morning, which Cramsey prefers. It’ll be his first trip to Auburn as a coach.
He’s probably just hoping the Hogs can hang on to the ball long enough for him to enjoy it.
